JoJo's Photobox: Lightning

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Sunday - May 18, 2008

Lightning

[Lightning]

I've often tried to capture lightning. It's hard. I don't have a nice high porch (or any kind of porch) I can hang out in whenever there's a lightning storm on the horizon. So, I have to be standing out in the elements. And, if it's actually raining, then my camera gets wet. Which I don't want. Not to mention the threat of getting struck, eh? But, there have been times when something was going on "way off yonder" and I was in a dry spot and I'd try. But, for the most part, my efforts were for naught. I'd get a little hint of something. But nothing to write home about. Until last Wednesday night. I was working on my computer at about 12:30 at night when I heard thunder and lightning (okay, so I heard the thunder and saw the effects of lightning flashing behind the blinds). I'd been out earlier in the evening watching the clouds 'cause we were supposedly in the line of fire for some tornado-like activity. I'd opened my garage and watched. 'Cause I wanted to know if something was coming. But, nothing happened. Not even a sprinkle. Thankfully, no tornadoes.

So, when I heard the thunder starting up later in the evening, I went back to the garage and saw that there was lightning off to the north that I could see from inside the garage. So, I set up my tripod and went to work. I took a series of (mostly) 6- to 8-second exposures. Just waiting. And, there was lots of lightning. Sadly, almost all of it was taking place behind the clouds. They'd light up...but nothing was breaking through. Which, I realize, is actually a good thing for those of us with property and what not on the ground. But, not all that great for those of us trying to get photos of the lightning.

Most of my shots looked like some variation of this:

[Lightning]

No (or very little) lightning behind the clouds. Or, this:

[Lightning]

Lots of lightning...all of it behind the clouds, though. Which is pretty it its own right. But, not the same.

I ended up taking 113 photos. Only 3 had any visible lightning streaks in 'em. The one at the top of this post was the best. Too bad about the power lines, eh? Alas, I have power lines outside my garage and there's no way to get around that.

Regardless, I was happy to finally have a lightning shot.

Updated to add that I just realized that this makes three "sky" posts in a row. What do you suppose that means? Hmmmm...

Posted by Joanna at 5:35 PM